Supreme Court grants Mammone a stay of execution

James Mammone, the Canton man sentenced to death for killing his two young children in 2009, has been granted a stay on his execution.

CantonRep.com staff report

James Mammone, the Canton man sentenced to death for killing his two young children and former mother-in-law, has been granted a stay on his execution.

The Ohio Supreme Court issued the ruling Tuesday morning. Mammone had been scheduled for execution on March 8, 2017. The stay will remain in effect until he has exhausted all state post-conviction proceedings, including any appeals.

The three murders took place in 2009 in the Canton area. Mammone stabbed his two children — 5-year-old daughter Macy and 3-year-old son James IV — while they were strapped in their car seats; he also killed his 57-year-old former mother-in-law, Margaret Eakin.

Mammone said the acts were retribution following his divorce and claimed he was trying to spare the children from being raised in a broken home.

He was found guilty of three counts of aggravated murder, two counts of aggravated burglary, violating a protection order, attempted arson and three gun specifications.

Mammone had filed his motion for a stay of execution on Aug. 5.

Kathleen Tatarsky, an assistant Stark County prosecutor in the appellate division, said the ruling was expected. A previous Ohio Supreme Court ruling set a precedent giving death penalty defendants a stay pending a direct appeal and post-conviction proceedings, she said.

In late July, the state’s high court denied Mammone’s request for reconsideration of his convictions and death sentence. That came after a May ruling in which the same court voted 6-1 to uphold the verdict and sentence.